This year, Roslyn and I spent two weeks in Germany with Roslyn's sisters and grandmother. Roslyn's grandmother is from Germany so the three sisters got to experience Germany and meet a bunch of new family members.
Germany started with a flight from Winnipeg to Toronto, followed by a flight to Rekyavik, then to Berlin. We took WestJet for the Winnipeg to Toronto, which was a fairly normal flight. The flight to Iceland on IcelandAir was quite wonderful though, as was the flight to Berlin on the same air line. Rekyavik air port is very nice, clean, plenty of restaurants. The entry point into Europe was easy, quick, and efficient. The staff on the Iceland Air flight was one of the best flight crews I have had the pleasure to fly with.
First beer in Germany
Once we landed we picked up our rental car and found the Air BnB we were staying at. Finding free parking was hard so we parked in a parkade for night (we did eventually find free parking a short walk away the next day). The Air BnB was nice, spacious and slept 5. The only problem with it was that it was one room and a bathroom. After settling in, we went out for supper and picked up groceries on our way home.
The first full day in Berlin we did a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. We made an early breakfast, jumped onto the subway, then walked about 10 minutes to the bus stop. At the stop there was an old church with a flower garden, and the Fountain of Poseidon in front of it.
One of the flowers with a tower in the background
Fountain of Poseidon
Shortly after jumping on the bus we drove past the Berlin Dom. It was a majestic building sitting on the rivers edge. While we went past it on Day 1, we planned to visit it on Day 2 and it did not disappoint. For now we just settled on driving by it and heading onto our first adventure for the day.
Berlin Dom drove by
Group shot on the tour bus
Our first stop on the tour was Madame Tussaud's, a wax museum. The wax creations inside were extraordinary, and the overview of how they are made at the end was interesting as well. You can take pictures of all the exhibits except the Hitler exhibit, but I would still strongly recommend going to it if you are in Berlin because the pictures can't capture the detail or feeling of them well enough.
Roslyn and I with Einstein
Roslyn's Omi with Vader
With Madame Tussaud's behind us, we jumped back onto the tour bus and headed off to our next stop, the Berlin Victory Column. The Column has a nice green space all around it and is centered in a three lane round about. To get to it you need to take a tunnel underneath the road. While we walked through the tunnel a guitarist played classical music which seemed otherworldly due to the acoustics of the tunnel.
Roslyn and I in front of the Victory Column
Stair to the top of the Victory Column
The Victory Column had a small museum to the different historical monuments in Germany. There is also a staircase up to colonnade where there is a mosaic wrapping around the base of the Column. The a longer staircase then takes you up to the top of the tower which gives a great view out over the city park.
After seeing all of the Victory Column, we ate a quick lunch and had a beer at a near by patio, then jumped back on the tour bus. This time we were headed to Check Point Charlie for a bit of a history review.
Church left and even reinforced in its destroyed state to memorialize WWII
Recreated checkpoint
Single piece of the Berlin wall, we didn't get to see the longer section
Check Point Charlie was pretty interesting. We went into the museum and read through the information stations, listed and watched the videos and just tried to soak it all in. We were there for about an hour and a half and we only made it about half way through before we decided to call it quits. The museum is deceivingly large and we were getting pretty worn down by that point. After leaving Check Point Charlie we headed out to a restaurant then went back to the Air BnB.
Interesting fountain we found on the way home on Day 2
Day 2 started off nice and early again. After a subway trip and a walk we were at the Berlin Dom, ready to see what waited for us inside. We were actually a bit in awe at the main level of the building and the view from the roof. There is also a crypt, which we walked through and looked at the sarcophagi, but we refrained from taking pictures there. The Dom is still an active church with services every Sunday, but the rest of the week they allow tourists into the building.
Side door of the Berlin Dom
Imposing main entrance
View from the courtyard in front of the Dom
The left side of the main hall, entrance door on the left, altar on the right. The room is circular but it's hard to capture that in a picture
The right side of the main hall, continuing onward from the altar
After the Berlin Dom, we walked over to a river boat tour and waited for the next one to start. We didn't take any pictures of the tour but did get quite a bit of video. We will be showing video of the river boat tour, as well as everything else on our trip, on our YouTube channel starting next week!
With the river boat excitement behind us we went to a funny scary haunted house called the Berlin Dungeon. The Dungeon walks you through a somewhat interactive haunted house that plays up some parts of Berlin's past to be both a tiny bit scary and quite a bit humorous.
The outside of the Berlin Dungeon, no pictures allowed inside
After the Berlin dungeon we did a tour of the Aqua Dome, which is an aquarium amusement park. We didn't get many good pictures because of the lighting and the tanks shapes, but it was pretty fun to see all the fish.
Once we wrapped up the Aqua Dome, we spent the last bit of our day perusing Little Berlin. Little Berlin is a history of the city of Berlin recreated in miniature. There were lots of little hidden gems to go looking for and a few interactive 'race' games that were fun to play against each other.
One of the set pieces in Little Berlin, the craftsmanship was amazing
Little Berlin tired us out completely and we headed back to the room. On the way we stopped at an Italian restaurant for some pizza. The pizza there was the best pizza we had ever eaten at the time (some Sicilian pizza we had in Munich ended up being even better!).
As Day 3 dawned we were a bit tired from all the walking the previous two days, but determined to persevere. We headed back to the Berlin Dom and went to a Greek and Roman museum that was adjacent to it. After he Greek and Roman Museum we grabbed a trolley, a subway and a bus to get to the Natural History Museum.
Greek and Roman history museum
Different Greek hoplite helmets from different regions
Front of the Natural History Museum
Dinosaur skeletons are always cool
A fully complete T-rex
Up close T-rex skull
One of the stuffed specimens, a nice jaguar
Both of the museums were enjoyable, and we spent about 3 hours in the Greek and Roman Museum and 2 in the Natural History Museum. The exhibits in both were expansive and the effort needed to maintain enthusiasm the whole time was pretty exhausting, but all five of us enjoyed it in the end.
With the museums completed, we headed to another restaurant for supper, grabbed some beer from a local grocer who labelled himself as a "YouTube Tourist", and had a relaxing evening at the Air BnB before heading out to Tropical Islands the next day.
In Roslyn's words:
Germany was a once in a lifetime trip, not because we will never be going back, (believe me, we will) but rather because we were able to go with my Omi (grandma) to where she was born and raised. It was something me and my sisters always kinda talked about, and with all of us now out of school, it was the perfect time.
I have been on a big trip before, but not one where I was a responsible party member (aka I’m in charge now). It definitely adds some extra pressure, even more so when you were the one planning the majority of the trip for the group. Will the Airbnbs work out? Will the neighborhoods be sketchy? Will the great deal on that combo attraction ticket actually pan out? Thankfully by the end of the trip my organization and planning efforts all payed off.
The first stop on our adventure was Berlin and man was it awesome. From the seamless transit system to the kind of architecture you can only have from an well aged culture, there was so much to experience and so little time. And just as it was there, there is no way to touch on everything in this post so here are my top five favorite things from Berlin.
The hop on hop off bus tours - They may seem super awful touristy and you will probably get tired of people running around with 6 foot flags on their back trying to sell you a ticket, but I actually really enjoyed it. You can see a bunch of interesting sites and just jump off at the ones you want to explore. It works especially well with the Berlin pass as you can cash in some free entrance locations along the way.
The Berlin Dungeons - Again, super touristy and much more showy than what one thinks of when going to Berlin, but what a great time. Great actors and audience interactions, amazingly well detailed sets, lots of laughs, and a few screams to boot. There was also some added humour from simply watching my Omi react to some of the dirtier jokes made.
Museum Island - I could have spent the whole three days wandering from museum to museum. We had attempted to do a musium day but overestimated our history stamina. If I were to go again, I would try to mix up the attractions and museums more.
Mum n pop restaurants and shops - Having an Airbnb a little bit aways from the main tourist center of the city, we were able to enjoy a few family run establishments. A few times we walked down the street a half block and picked up some bread and fruits from a small family market as well as have a super delicious meal for 7 euro a person (that ended up lasting me for 3 meals). Moral of the story, explore more then the center of Berlin.
Amazing architecture you just cant find in Canada - Just building after building, each grand in it’s own way from gold leaf everything to expansive mosaics. Simply otherworldly for this prairie girl.
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